Life in the Viking Great Army: Raiders, traders, and settlers

This article is from Current Archaeology issue 427

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REVIEW BY COLLEEN BATEY

The arrival of the Great Army on the shores of East Anglia in AD 865 was a seminal moment in English history. This marked the move away from the seasonal raids of war bands to the over-wintering of an army-like presence. The nature of the Great Army has long excited interest, and this important volume provides a readable and stimulating basis for discussion within its pages, providing, as it does, a contextualisation of the extensive metal-detected finds from two locations: Torksey, in Lincolnshire, and Aldwalk, near York.

The volume is divided into three main sections. Part 1 includes a review of the mass-attacks and defended sites established in the mid-9th century. This is followed by a useful summary of several sites linked with the Great Army and its movements around England. This relies on both written sources and archaeology/Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) entries. Part 2 introduces ‘Life in the Camps’, using the extensive finds evidence (and more limited excavation data) from Torksey and Aldwark. With some 3,580 and c.1,500 finds from these two sites (respectively), this dataset enables similarities to be drawn between the metalwork recovered, and enables a ‘type set’ of objects, which can be used at other sites.

Part 3 considers the ‘Impact’ of the Great Army, drawing out their potential role in the development of the burgeoning ceramic industry. The importance of proxy indicators for elements which are not recovered by metal-detectors and uncommonly in excavation cannot be underestimated: wood-working tools signify the availability of wood, while fishing and birding equipment, as well as the processing of wool, are all indicative of wider environmental exploitation.

The final chapter, the ‘Legacy’ of the Great Army, expands the zones of influence. Can it be that virtually all sites, including a number in Scotland, have been under the influence of the Great Army? Perhaps here we have lost sight of the smaller Viking warbands active in the coastal regions. Finally, the bold statement that over 1,800 artefacts from Torksey were discarded within a 12-month period is amazing: can they really have been so profligate with their resources?

Life in the Viking Great Army: Raiders, traders, and settlers
Dawn Hadley and Julian Richards
Oxford University Press, £25
ISBN 978-0198848554